with driving rain and microbursts of up to 100 miles per hour. sara palin will be in iowa tonight headlining the ronald reagan dinner. is this the beginning of her presidential campaign? plus, a new rally being planned. i am calling for the nation to join me on the washington mall for the march to keep fear alive. good friday morning, i'm chris jansing live from msnbc world headquarters in new york. we have some incredible video of that violent and deadly storm that ripped through the new york city area leaving widespread damage. hurricane-force winds uprooted trees as the storm barrelled through the region during rush hour yesterday. this morning, more than 26,000 homes in new york, more than 11,000 more in northern new jersey are still without power. look at these pictures taken from the shore looking at the statue of liberty. here is some of that damage we were telling you about. police say a driver was killed and her passenger injured when a

tree fell on a car in queens. neighborhood have been littered with downed trees and tree limbs and residents say the intense storm caught them completely by surprise. >> it just got real dark and then the wind came down like it was a spaceship literally landing on the block and it started shaking and the trees and i got scared. >> investigators with the national weather service still don't know if it officially was a tornado that touched down. nbc peter alexander is live in queens, new york. peter, i was watching the local news coverage last night and it was astonishing how quickly it came up. there were people talking literally about running for their lives. >> you and i both live in manhattan and you just watch the city turn dark yesterday afternoon as this storm swept through town. you talk about people running for their lives, among those folks, the people who lived in this apartment building. we are in the corona neighborhood in the bureau of queens, new york. you can see where the roof of

this apartment building was peeled back like the top of a sardine can. we had a chance to talk to the family who was in the apartment at the time. a man, his seven-month pregnant and his mother. some of the roof fell in the back. the mom, again, she was pregnant, as well as that woman's mother. the man was hit by some of the beams, as well as the table. you can imagine how quickly this moved in. 24 people here forced to relocate and only injuries with the exception of that one fatality that, chris, you spoke about a short time ago. we have been keeping a close eye on the effort to clean up. coned said they are just shy of 30,000 outages at this time. that's down from about 38,000 yesterday. but throughout this neighborhood, we have seen trees littered branches all over the place and power lines down and

it is quite an issue for people who live in a place that have only seen eight twisters since 1970. in the meantime, national weather service teams are in ohio to see if a tornado did all this damage at the campus of the ohio agricultural research and development center, witnesses said they heard tornado sirens blasting and then a thick, black cloud descended on the campus. most of the students and staff had already gone home for the day, so no one was hurt. the campus was closed because several buildings were damaged. it was a shocking crime, a cup of acid thrown in the face of a woman. today police have their suspect and after an exhaustive search she was right under their nose all the time. the woman did it to herself and then lied to the world about it, apparently. nbc kristen welker is live in vancouver, washington. kristen, how did police crack

this case? vancouver police got a search warrant to investigate bethany's house. they found a young woman who was fragile and admitted to maiming her own face. this all started back on august 30th. that's when she came forward to police when she was walking in vancouver, washington, when a woman she didn't recognize approach her holding a cup and said, hey, pretty girl, do you want to drink this and then threw as utd in her face. storro says she was wearing sunglasses that she had just purchased 20 minutes prior. she calls it a miracle. thee said those sunglasses protected her eyes. police say there were a lot of red flags there. they wanted to know why the markings on bethany storro's face were only on her face and not on her neck or shoulders, which is where they would have been if someone splashed a liquid on her and why she was

wearing sunglasses at 7:30 at night. this is why they started to investigate her. again, she did come forward yesterday and admit that she was lying. police will turn all of their materials eventually over to the prosecutor's office who will determine whether charges will be filed. that will likely take place next week. chris? >> what a sad situation. kristen, thank you. i know we've heard it before, but it never gets any less horrifying, a 2-year-old boy died yesterday after day care workers left him in a boiling hot van for at least six hours. outside temperatures climbed well into the 90s, so it was far hotter. experts say as high as 50 degrees hotter inside that vehicle. the toddler wasn't discovered until the afternoon when a 3-year-old girl who was going home told the driver that the little boy was there. police and state officials are both investigating. no charges have been filed yet. after dishing on his daughter's lavish wedding calling it its own economic stimulus, former president bill

clinton had some advice for president obama on how to get through the midterm elections in just 48 days. >> we had a virgin of what he's facing now, which is that we had done things that were bringing the economy back, but no one felt it yet. that's a combustible mix. it makes people angry and they ought to be angry and might make some of your own strong supporters apathetic about whether they should vote. i think he should go to the area wheres he can help. and that's what he's doing and he should help them raise enough funds so they don't get blown away. >> clinton's campaigning across the country and he has stops in nevada and ohio in the coming days and this weekend the 42nd president will be a guest on "meet the press." big-name conservatives are putting on a show today. right now the value's voter summit is getting under way. pro marriage, prolife and controlled spending organization. mitt romney and mike huckabee supposed to be the big stars today, but instead christine

o'donnell is grabbing the spotlight. tony perkins is the president of the family research council. good morning, it's good to see you. >> good morning, how are you? >> i'm well, thanks. for somebody who follows politics as closely as we do here. this is really interesting. this whole overnight sensation that has become christine o'donnell and overshadowed some other speakers because of his association with tea party candidates and in part because she was such a surprise winner and tell us a little bit about what you think about her and what the buzz is there about her. >> well, i think there's another part to it and that is that she was attacked by republicans. the republican establishment and i think when you put all of that into the mix, that has raised her profile beyond anything that it would have been on its own. the fact that she upset a 40-year political veteran who was a liberal republican and that the establishment had backed him and then when she

wins, they get mad and attack her. so, that makes the mix, given this tea party background of kind of anti-incumbent, it's a pretty powerful mix. >> and i'm also interested because the first thing you said is that she was attacked by the party establishment. we heard it from the state gop chairman, we heard it from karl rove who called her nutty and it does sort of point to what is seen as this great divide within the republican party and a lot of people questioning whether that's going to serve conservative views long term. are you concerned about that, that there does seem to be this disconnect between the moderate ring of the republican party or what some people would say the main stream and more conservative people. >> well, it's nothing new. but what's happened with the dynamic of the tea party where people are saying, look, enough is enough. it's not just the democratic party that's a problem. the republican party is a problem. they're the ones that started the spending. they're the ones that had

control and didn't fix a lot of these problems so what we want are conservatives who will abide by the constitution and the founding principals of the nation. so, you have the establishment who, you know, they're out there recruiting candidates, supporting candidates and their political models are not working this cycle. so, karl rove comes unglued and they have been doing this for years. they have been backing moderate candidates against conservatives but in this environment t doesn't work. >> what's different now? what's different than when karl rove was being called, in some quarters, a political genius because of the way he put together the campaigns of george bush, both successful campaigns. >> well, again, it's those political models work when there's a more apathetic voting population, but now you have the tea parties in the mix and there's really no political model that factors that in. they're not controlled by the establishment, by the party. they're not wed to the republican party. they're clearly not wed to the

democratic party. they're independent. maybe not in registration, but in ideology and the way they vote, they're not going to vote for somebody just because they have an r by their name, they're going to vote for somebody who stands for the same conservative principals. at the forefront of that debate right now is the big spending and increasing deficits and thoerthe overreach of the federal government. the tea party searching forward and you combine that with the social conservatives that have already kind of been at odds with the republican party and it's a pretty strong dynamic. >> and i just need to ask you really quickly because love her or hate her a lot of this focus has come was of sarah palin and she has a tremendous following. was she invited to be there this weekend? >> she was. a conflict in her schedule, but, yeah, she was invited to be here, as well. >> a conflict known as iowa. we'll be watching that, as well. tony perkins, good to see you. good luck this weekend. >> thanks.

there are new accusations in a political feud that is actually decades old. former president jimmy carter taking aim at the late ted kennedy. carter tells "60 minutes" the massachusetts senator who you might recall challenged him for the presidential nomination killed a health care bill to deny him a political victory. >> the fact is that we would have had comprehensive health care now, had it not been for ted kennedy's deliberately blocking the legislation i proposed in 1978 or '79. >> you blame teddy for the failure. >> exactly. >> health care, his issue. >> exactly. it was his fault. ted kennedy killed the bill. >> just to spite you, is that what -- that's the implication. >> that's the implication. he did not want to see me have a major success. >> before his death last year, kennedy also talked about this rivalry. in his memoir, kennedy suggested that cartser to blame for the failed legislation and he just

didn't take leadership on the issue. we've been talking about her, that tea party darling christine o'donnell. she hauled in more than $1 million or just about $1 million overnight. that's nearly ten times what her democratic opponent has, total. the two candidates went face-to-face last night. we'll tell you what happened. from serious it just plain fantastic. meet the dog with the longest tongue in the world. and fluffy, who happens to be a 24-foot long snake.

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>> jimmy, go. >> my fellow americans, two

score and seven days from now on october 30, 2010, i'm calling for the nation to join me on the washington mall for the march to keep fear alive. >> i see you're intrigued, but something still bothering you, as a reasonable, busy person, i'd love to come, john. but i don't have time to hand craft a message or some signage. not to worry. that's where we come in. we're going to have signs for you down there. if you don't have time. of course, you can bring your own. but here's a quick one. i disagree with you, but i'm pretty sure you're not hitler. >> jon stewart and stephen colbert fired up about march to keep fear alive and rally to restore sanity. the newest tea party darling got her latest taste of debate against her democratic challenger. christine o'donnell downplayed criticisms and controversies from her past while chris coons

talked about his experience. they're fighting for joe biden's old senate seat in delaware. kelly o'donnell is in washington and, kelly, so, o'donnell comes out and i understand has a lot of enthusiastic supporters in the audience. what about the dynamic in that room last night. >> well, it was interesting, chris, this is a traditional forum and happens every year for all the statewide democrats in delaware. there was a number of people there and a distinctly loud presence for o'donnell. chris c orcoons got support, to. there was a lot of good humor about the sudden attention on o'donnell, coons and this race and what it means and the fund-raising that you talked about making really an impact on the web, raising more than $1 million. the candidates, this wasn't a debate they were going at each other but questions were put to them and they discussed the national impact of what is happening with this race. >> delaware, i'm not counting on

the national media to vote for me on november 2nd. ium asking all of you to vote for me. >> i'm not worried who will come in from out of state to help fund-raise, what i'm worried about is how we get this economy back on track. >> i think i have proven that i have the political will to make what is seemingly impossible, possible. >> i think at the end of the day the core differences i hear between my aponant and myself is the view in the positive role of government. in my view, there can and should be a positive role for government. >> it was a very polite kind of setting and each complimented each other. lots of niceties. we've been talking and a lot of oattention paid to things that o'donnell had said in the past when she was appearing on tv shows and talking to reporters when she was advocating for abstinen abstinence. this did come up in the setting last night, the moderator put the question to her very directly. >> but i assure you my faith has

matured and when i go to washington, d.c., it will be the constitution on which i base all of my decisions, not my personal beliefs. >> i don't think they're particularly interested in statements that either of us made 20 or 30 years ago. >> so, chris coons there, the democrat trying to brush aside questions about what o'donnell has said in the past. she says she's a practicing catholic, has her beliefs but has matured in how she talks about those issues and certainly trying to distance herself from any perception that she might be extreme as her critics certainly called her. chris? >> all right, kelly, thank you. even though o'donnell has run for office before, increeding a senate race against joe biden she has become a national overnight sensation. is she a novelty or a force to be wrecken with. david is a reporter for "slate" and msnbc contributor. good morning. >> good morning. >> i think one thing we always look at when we're talking about candidates, obviously s money.

take a look at these numbers. right now, today, chris coons has about $945,000. this is what they had before the primary and now she has $845,000. does that automatically make her a force to be wrereckoned with? >> it makes her somebody democrats will have more trouble ignoring. honestly, what people have been telling me here at the value voter summit, the attacks on her from the media. i was talking to a top iowa social conservative and he said he didn't know anything about o'donnell until karl rove said she couldn't win on fox news and then he paid attention. the more she gets negative coverage, someone put to me, a cinderella. >> i was talking to tony perkins 10 or 15 minutes ago from where you're standing and he said, essentially, the same thing. the question i asked him, i would like a little more analssis from you and does it just point to the difficulties within the republican party and

what people are saying, which is that when you nominate someone like this, it's much harder to get them elected. >> well, i mean, that's definitely true. what i'm saying is it's going to be tough for her to ignore because she has money, but not the type of person that wins in delaware. delaware gave the obama ticket a huge landslide. it's not a very ideological state, it's a state where somebody like coons who's most famous for replacing the budget. her ideology and makes the attacks on her good for fund-raising and not what works in a very polite, small state. >> it is, in a way, you're looking at the same kind of things from the value voters group and the tea party group, the kind of things they are for. they are promarriage, prolife and they want smaller government and less spending and they want, you know, to balance the budget. so, tell me a little bit about

the mood there at the value voters summit after a string of surprising upsets in this primary season. >> well, i mean the mood is joyo joyous. jim dement is finishing up his speech when he drops the names of candidacy he's endorsed, they know who they are. the feeling is these activists were ignored by conservatives for a long time. they feel like they were irnognd by the bush administration. now they're in the driver's seat and the polls look good and this is proof of what they said all along. if you stand fast to proconservative values, is it true in delaware and new hampshire? that's not clear yet. but everyone here is convinced of it. >> david wigal, good to see you, thanks. >> thank you. another reason for kate to love her wills. prince william gets his wings and a new title along with it.

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take a look at this. surveillance camera that captures a toddler, yes, that's a toddler in the back center of the screen wandering on to a busy highway. for almost a half minute drivers drove right by the boy without slowing down but then he gets spotted by a truck driver and then that driver thankfully blocks traffic until the mom rushes over and picks him up. apparently, she had been frantically searching for her child after he wandered away. police have questioned the mom, but no charges have been filed. big day for the second in line to the throne. prince william is getting his wings as a royal air force search and rescue pilot today. jim maceda is live in london with more on will's graduation.

hello there, jim. >> hi, chris. well, the wings ceremony was pretty low key, but prince william's graduation today could kick off into a six-year military career and raises all those sticky issues, once again, about his private life. will he or won't he? from his first steps to first grade. from the military commission to his first real job. it was another milestone for the second in line to the british throne. today, flight lieutenant william wales earned his certificate and became officials a royal air force search and rescue pilot. after training for seven months on a helicopter, his first tour will begin at the rf valley base with demanding, sometimes dangerous rescue missions and long periods living on base. but the new commitment of a full-time job is already raising

some old questions. what about kate middleton and marriage? will the girlfriend of eight years finally lose patience and bolt? not likely. some reports say the couple is already living together, blissfully, near the air base. >> he will be a search and rescue pilot and she will be in the house, the farm house nearby just, basically, doing the work as an officer's wife would do. >> reporter: but still unmarried and competing for time with the future king's hands-on charities and increasing royal duties, just how much longer can this go on? earlier this week one tabloid had this exclusive, the royal wedding, according to an impeccable source, will be in 2012, just before the queen's diamond jubilee and the summer olympic games. >> so, the spotlight of the world will be on london, on britain at that particular moment. >> hi. >> just look amazing. >> reporter: it can't come soon enough for londoner jody bruno.

>> she doesn't wear a lot of makeup. >> reporter: trying to launch her career as a kate middleton lookalike. >> it will give me more work, i'll be really busy. >> reporter: of course unless it's another bad rumor in a royal waiting game. one important point about the new job, chris. unlike his brother, harry, who is an apache attack helicopter pilot, she's training to be one. william won't be flying rescue missions in any war zones, at least no time soon. for strict royal operation more on british land and british sea. back to you, chris. >> jim, an outstanding reporter like you and you didn't answer the one question that i have to know, was kate there at the graduation and what was she wearing? >> no, she was not seen. she was there at the first one, but not at this one. i think she's really low profile at that farm house right now.

guess who's coming to dinner in iowa tonight? you bechia, sarah palin headlining the ronald reagan dinner. plus, who's angrier left-handed or right-handed people? we'll tell you, next. before rogaine, my solution to the problem was to go ahead

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welcome back to msnbc, i'm chris jansing. shareholders from continental and united will vote today on a deal to create the world's biggest airline. if shareholders approve, the deal will close in the next couple weeks. the new airline will be called united. after five months the sunken oil rig in the gulf should be permanently plugged by sunday. so now bp just needs to seal the blown out well from the bottom. and boxer floyd mayweather jr. is facing two more felony and two misdemeanor charges in a domestic violence case.

he was already facing a felony theft charge. he could get 27 years in prison. i want to kick up speculation about a possible presidential run, well, just make a friendly stop in iowa. today, sarah palin is set to headline the ronald reagan dinner in des moines. she will rub elbows in a key primary state while the media follows her every move. andy barr covers national politics for politico. andy, let me start with you because i hear it is a media frenzy there, that there are even people from london who are covering sarah palin in iowa, what's going on there? >> a lot of folks there. she's not doing the traditional iowa thing, you know, she's going to be kind of doing a quick speech and in and out. i'm at the value voter's confidence here in d.c. and even though she's not here today, this is still her crowd and you

still hear her get talked about a lot. >> let me ask you, shashana is she running? >> i believe she. >> what are the signs? certainly if she's doing it, she's not doing it in a traditional way. she's not sort of putting all the feelers out there, she's not putting together a team the way you would, if you were going to run, like say like a mitt romney. >> really, all the potential 2012 voters are not out there in the way they were. they're waiting until after the midterm elections and then we'll see more ramping up. but i do believe that there are signs, even if they're just behind the scenes and her staff is gearing up, even though she hasn't tipped them off whether she's running or not, her staff is ramping up as if she's running in 2012. >> what are they doing? there are open signs whether it's backing these candidates that have really take on the country by storm like christine o'donnell or little signs like starting to send out press releases. only less than a handful but

more than a week ago, they sent out press releases. even though that is a small, slight sign you wouldn't see, it is part of the ramping up and part of what's going on to even just prepare it, but we're still two years out. >> we're still two years out, but that isn't stopping a straw poll from taking place. it will happen in less than a couple hours. mike huckabee won it in 2007 and 2009. who's there this time and who are the likely frontrunners? >> well, huckabee just spoke and he's expected to be one of the frontrunners, again. sarah palin didn't speak last year and is not speaking here this year. that plugged her in before she finished in fourth. the one thing with the straw poll, there are 18 candidates on the ballot. anyone who wins will have a small margin. last year huckabee won with 28%. >> whoever wins, it's really a question of where the buzz is and sarah palin has been

masterful at sort of keeping the buzz going around her. however, it's been a long time since she's taken questions from the media. she will not do it tonight at the ronald reagan dinner. that is something that will seriously have to change. >> i feel like people ask me this all the time and now, as you know, she runs for president and she's going to have a whole team of press corps on her plane. she will have to have a traditional press set up and answer a lot of questions which, i think, myself and a lot of other people think she will. i don't think you can run a campaign without that. >> thanks so much to both of you. >> thank you. a stretch of mexico's east coast is bracing for a hit from hurricane karl. it's now a major category 3 storm. biggest fear is that it's heading dangerously close to mexico's only nuclear power plant. so, let's get the latest from nbc meteorologist bill karins and how close it looks like it might hit? >> we're talking miles.

10 or 20 miles. we don't get this strong of storms here. you can see only 25 miles off the coast right now. it looks like it's done intensifying and most likely make landfall as a category 3. here's the nuclear reactor plant is, just north. the gray line was the original forecast track from early this morning at 5:00 a.m., but the storm has been going a little bit south of that track. so, instead of going the worst of it right through nuclear reactor, that little southwest jog looks like now the worst of it is just south of there. still a blow, but it won't be at the full brunt of the storm. the storm is taking a claes closa to vera cruz. i know people didn't evacuate there and they're probably not prepared for what they're dealing with. let me show you where they built this nuclear reactor. that's the gulf of mexico behind it. imagine what a storm surge from a category 3 or 4 storm would be like in that area. finally, as far as the forecast goes, inland this afternoon and we'll deal with it on sunday what's going to be igor and that

storm has weakened just a little bit. tiny bit of good news from bermuda. >> thank you, will. in michigan, a 6-year-old cheerleader who was thrown off her team after her parents complained because they felt like one of the team's cheer was just too provocative for young girls. the little girl's mother talked about the controversy on "today" show this morning. >> she showed me one of the cheers and we shake our booties from left to right and, at that point, i was just kind of in shock and right away the next day i addressed it with the coach and the general manager. she said, you know, they have been doing it that way for 20 years, the board is aware. you can have your daughter sit out or that's it. they were going to keep the cheer. the coach could decide whether she does it or not, because she does have that power. but, ultimately, because of the drama that we've created about this, she was going to remove the family from the organization for the year. >> jennifer now says she's not sure if she want her daughter to

participate in cheerleading next year and is looking into gymnastics, instead. is the pope being targeted by terrorists while in london? we have shocking details of a new investigation. plus, joaquin phoenix made headlines with that whacky appearance on david letterman. now we know the real reason why he was acting so weird. morning ? introducing bayer am, an extra strength pain reliever with alertness aid to fight fatigue. so get up and get goin'! with new bayer am. the morning pain reliever. with new bayer am. somewhere in america, there's a doctor who can peer into the future. there's a nurse who can access in an instant every patient's past. and because the whole hospital's working together, there's a family who can breathe easy, right now. somewhere in america, we've already answered some of the nation's toughest healthcare questions. and the over 60,000 people of siemens

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>> i am okay with it, but now you're making me feel weird about it. >> in "walk the line" i said this guy is tremendous. he's singing and it was great. is that the kind of music you're interested in? >> no, i do more hip-hop music. >> joaquin, i'm sorry you couldn't be here tonight. >> casey affleck, i don't know what it is about that, but i can watch it over and over again. affleck admits this is all fake. he said it was the performance of joaquin phoenix's career. chances are you tend to be angrier than those of us who are righties. a new study in the september issue of the journal of nervous and mental disease finds lefties and ambidextrous emotions.

they're mad about that those lefties. they're not happy. you hear that, alan? okay. police in britain have arrested five men linking them to an alleged terrorist plot against pope benedict. the pope has been heavily protected during his four-day visit to britain traveling in a custom built bulletproof car. stephanie gosk joins us live from london with the latest. what can you tell us, stephanie, about these arrests? >> it's fair to say that security is of the utmost concern right now and they're working with an abundance of caution when it comes to the pope. this is a plot that surfaced late last night and they didn't waste any time. upon hearing the information, britain's counterterrorism command went in early this morning in westminster, which is a neighborhood in london, central london where the pope is going to be giving a speech later on today. they arrested five men at a shop there and brought them to a police station where they are currently questioning them. so far they have not been charged with anything.

but, you know, this is, this is all part of the security operation surrounding the pope. he's been, everywhere he has been there have been streets blocked off. this morning we had difficulty getting to the university where he was speaking to, we showed up a bit too late. once he was on the grounds, they stopped all foot traffic and no one was allowed in or out. they're not taking any risks. chris? >> i assume the trip will go on as planned no changes other than the fact they're reviewing the security, i'm sure. >> that's true. the pope has been notified, as well as his entourage. they are aware of the situation, but they haven't made any changes to their busy schedule. later on today, they're going to be meeting with a number of government officials in westminster and they're also going to be meeting with the archbishop of canterberry and going to westminster abbie. no changes over the weekend either. chris? >> one thing i was surprised to see, they rolled down the window of the popemobile and he went to

kiss a baby. that's always the kind of stuff that makes security folks very nervous. >> yeah, i mean, clearly. obviously, none of that is planned. and in that particular venue you're talking about last night in glasgow, they thought that it was safe enough, but it does sort of beg the question, if you're going to have bulletproof windows and you're going to roll them down, then it kind of defeats the purpose. but, you know, there hasn't been, we have been to a number of the sites and events that he's had. there really haven't been the number of protests people have been talking about. there have been a very pleasant atmosphere, very little hostility and there was some concern that there would be these large-scale protests that could get out of hand. we haven't seen any of that. that has been kept to a minimum. they probably assumed at that venue last night everything was okay, not to mention the fact that the streets are closed off and all those people had gone through security checks to get in in the first place. >> stephanie, thanks so much. joran van der sloot got quite a surprise visitor while

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in what must have been a highly emotional and incredibly dramatic meeting, the mother of missing teen, natalee holloway, confronted the suspect in her daughter's disappearance. beth holloway spoke with joran van der sloot after sneaking into the peruvian prison where he is being held in another murder case. the two reportedly talked for five minutes before authorities removed her. her lawyer was on "today" show this morning. >> i know she was in castro castro and she saw joran and i know she definitely wasn't a arrested. a lot of people reported that nothing was taken from her. it was done without violating any laws or breaking any

regulations, but she did it. >> let's get more on the story now from nbc's michelle. >> i will not stop. >> reporter: that was beth holloway five years ago. her daughter, natalee just disappeared on her high school graduation trip to aruba. last seen getting into a car with joran van der sloot. today, beth has kept her promise. has not stopped. this week headed down to the dusty hills outside lima, peru, to castro castro prison to confront joran, face-to-face. beth, with a dutch news crew, got inside the lock up where joran is awaiting trial for murder and he became her captive audience. her attorney says for several minutes beth holloway did all the talking. very difficult emotionally for her, telling joran that the united states is still watching him. that whatever happens in peru he still faces an indictment for

extortion here. that if he knows something about what happened to natalee, it's time to tell is now, not ten years down the road, but now. his lawyer says beth told joran directly, she has no hate in her soul for him and that joran then handed her his attorney's phone number saying he couldn't talk about it. prison officials realizing this is part of a television taping hustled beth and the group straight out of there. from the start, natalee's mom has taken this case into her own hands, even then in aruba confronting joran, his family and friends. this past may on "today" the anniversary of her daughter's disappearance, beth spoke of her continued hope. >> i still feel that there is a potential for information, the real information to come. >> reporter: on that very same day in peru, student stephany flores was murdered in joran's hotel room.

a trip he financed with the money from beth. beth holloway is still searching for the same answers about her daughter from the same person she started with on day one. well, beth may have felt like this was her only chance. lately even areuben investigators have been in no hurry to get down there and talk to him because they feel it is unlikely that joran will tell them anything. >> thanks. making a tough turn here, but, you know, sometimes you have to do news that, frankly, has no news value whatsoever. it's friday, why not? take a look. meet puggy. who is having the world's longest doggy tongue. that doesn't do it for you? okay, next, fluffy. at 24 feet this oddly named python is breaking records as the world's longest snake in captivity. then there's anastasia a jack russell whose claim to fame

is popping 100 balloons in less than 46 seconds. it's been a long week. a long, long week. that is going to do it for me, i'm chris jansing. alex, what is going on? what is your favorite? do you like anisetasia. >> anyway, we'll see you at 3:00, chris. thanks for that. in our next hour, everyone. the stunning confession. a girl who sparked a massive police investigation after she had acid thrown in her face admits to making up the whole thing. plus, the new television ad that's going after a fast food giant for obesity-related deaths, it's all next in just three short minutes. ught i'd tae before work. want to come? [ female announcer ] or make his day. yeah. [ female announcer ] maxwell house gives you a rich, full-flavored cup of coffee, so you can be good to the last drop.

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meets with joran van der sloot behind bars. plus, who's afraid of christine o'donnell? she's raised $1 million since her primary win and giving the dems a confidence boost. did a tornado hit the big apple? right now the weather service is trying to find out if a tornado touched down here in new york city. uprooting trees, paralyzing traffic and shutting down rail lines. one woman was killed. several others were injured and thousands have no power. traumatic video captured a rare scene and electroifying bolt of lightning striking very close to the statue of liberty. one man said it is like an out of life experience. >> like it was a spaceship literally landing on the block and it started shaking in the trees and i got scared. >> peter alexander is live in queens, new york, with a good morning to you. i have to tell you, my daughter